The President of Zimbabwe, Emmerson Mnangagwa has secured a victory for a second and final term in office in an outcome that has already been rejected by the opposition and questioned by observers.
Africa Today News, New York reports that Mnangagwa, who assumed power after longtime leader Robert Mugabe was forces out in a 2017 army coup, was widely expected to secure re-election despite the country’s continuing economic crisis, with analysts saying the contest was heavily skewed in favour of the ZANU-PF party, which has ruled the country since independence and the end of white minority rule in 1980.
Going by the results of the elections, Mnangagwa won 52.6 percent of the vote compared with 44 percent for Nelson Chamisa, his main challenger, according to official results announced by the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission (ZEC) late on Saturday.
‘Mnangagwa Emmerson Dambudzo of ZANU-PF party is declared duly elected president of the Republic of Zimbabwe,’ ZEC chairwoman Justice Chigumba told journalists.
Even though there were delays throughout the polls that fueled opposition claims of fraud and voter repression, some supporters of the ruling party hailed the results on Saturday.
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But Promise Mkwananzi, a spokesman for the Chamisa’s Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC) said the party had not signed the final tally, which he described as “false”.
“We cannot accept the results,” he told reporters, adding the party would soon announce its next move.
The vote was being watched across southern Africa as a test of support for Mnangagwa’s ZANU-PF, whose 43-year rule has been battered by its disastrous management of the economy and charges of authoritarianism.
Africa Today News, New York reports that foreign poll monitors said on Friday that the elections had failed to meet regional and international standards.
The head of the European Union’s observer mission on Friday said the vote took place in a “climate of fear”. Southern African regional bloc SADC’s mission noted issues including voting delays, issues with the voter roll, bans on opposition rallies and biased state media coverage.
“The elections were fraught with irregularities and aggrieved the people of Zimbabwe,” political analyst Rejoice Ngwenya said.
“The CCC has good grounds to go to court and challenge the outcome”.
ZANU-PF denies it has an unfair advantage or seeks to influence the outcome of elections through rigging.
Chigumba of ZEC said 80-year-old Mnangagwa had won more than 2.3 million votes, while 45-year-old Chamisa had more than 1.9 million.
By securing more than half the votes cast, the president avoided a run-off. Voter turnout was 69 percent.
Nicole Beardsworth, a politics lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand, said she thought the late Saturday announcement was probably a response to the critique by SADC and other election observers.